Meeting Title: Brainforge Finance Review Date: 2025-11-19 Meeting participants: Rico Rejoso, Uttam Kumaran, Megan’s Notetaker, megan
WEBVTT
1 00:00:22.600 ⇒ 00:00:26.340 Uttam Kumaran: Okay, I don’t know, that was weird, okay.
2 00:00:49.430 ⇒ 00:00:52.890 megan: Okay, gang’s all here! Yeah.
3 00:00:52.890 ⇒ 00:00:54.709 Uttam Kumaran: Now we’re working, okay.
4 00:00:54.710 ⇒ 00:01:00.429 megan: Oh my gosh, I’m just… that’s kind of been the story of my week. I’m like, why is this link not working?
5 00:01:01.290 ⇒ 00:01:11.940 megan: Yeah, it’s… I don’t know, we’re doing, like, a big working session, but it’s on my Zooms. A lot of the meetings are on my Zooms, but I’m also, like, jumping around, so…
6 00:01:11.980 ⇒ 00:01:13.090 Uttam Kumaran: Sorry about that.
7 00:01:13.270 ⇒ 00:01:18.599 megan: Yeah, I know Zoom can be finicky with reschedules, too, so I’ve seen that issue before.
8 00:01:18.600 ⇒ 00:01:19.440 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.
9 00:01:20.810 ⇒ 00:01:22.709 megan: So, well, how are things?
10 00:01:23.480 ⇒ 00:01:28.339 Uttam Kumaran: Things are… good. We’re selling more, which is great. We have…
11 00:01:28.500 ⇒ 00:01:32.189 Uttam Kumaran: We should have, at least one more close.
12 00:01:32.940 ⇒ 00:01:35.989 Uttam Kumaran: This week or next week.
13 00:01:36.640 ⇒ 00:01:44.709 Uttam Kumaran: So, yeah, I feel like we’re in a good spot. We’re sort of discussing renewals with ABC and with Urban Stems.
14 00:01:45.160 ⇒ 00:01:53.189 Uttam Kumaran: We had maybe one, like, with… with Ellie, it’s… there’s… they’re still reviewing, like, a larger proposal.
15 00:01:53.570 ⇒ 00:01:57.450 Uttam Kumaran: But yeah, overall, like, no, like… sort of super…
16 00:01:57.730 ⇒ 00:02:03.700 Uttam Kumaran: regrettable churn coming up that I can expect, and, like, I… I think things are just getting better, so…
17 00:02:04.200 ⇒ 00:02:05.120 Uttam Kumaran: Good.
18 00:02:05.400 ⇒ 00:02:06.010 megan: Awesome!
19 00:02:06.350 ⇒ 00:02:07.070 megan: Well, that’
20 00:02:07.360 ⇒ 00:02:14.950 megan: That’s really good. It’s good to have… be good to get that renewal for Urban STEMs locked, too.
21 00:02:15.130 ⇒ 00:02:23.529 megan: I think they’re one of the biggest that’s just come up on, like, a natural renewal cycle, so it’ll be good to get that extended out.
22 00:02:25.240 ⇒ 00:02:40.140 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, so that one, we’re gonna see. I mean, for all of our clients, they want to work with us longer term. They have some internal reorgs that are going on, so we’ll end up signing something with them, and I think probably do a larger engagement next year, but yeah, overall, like.
23 00:02:40.280 ⇒ 00:02:44.610 Uttam Kumaran: I mean, really, my anxiety has just been coming for, like, how many
24 00:02:44.830 ⇒ 00:02:50.780 Uttam Kumaran: New clients were signing, and, like, now it’s a form of a delivery thing, but, you know, one problem at a time.
25 00:02:52.150 ⇒ 00:02:56.920 megan: Yeah, yeah, exactly. It’s always… it’s always a different battle, right?
26 00:02:57.690 ⇒ 00:02:58.490 Uttam Kumaran: Yes.
27 00:03:00.050 ⇒ 00:03:07.360 megan: So, oh, and I know we were… we also still needed to chat about ABC with the sales.
28 00:03:07.360 ⇒ 00:03:08.270 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.
29 00:03:08.760 ⇒ 00:03:16.220 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, maybe we can chat about that. So, I mean, there’s only, like, one piece of the solution that’s
30 00:03:16.580 ⇒ 00:03:30.349 Uttam Kumaran: on our systems, and it’s not even really on our systems, like, it just is a matter of, like, transferring, having them create an account on a platform, like, most of their stuff is actually on their servers.
31 00:03:30.640 ⇒ 00:03:34.160 Uttam Kumaran: And increasingly so, So…
32 00:03:35.360 ⇒ 00:03:44.429 Uttam Kumaran: like, yeah, I guess, like, I just maybe want… we want to close out. I can tell that they’re, like, whoever it is on their side is just, like, trying to figure this out, but…
33 00:03:46.020 ⇒ 00:03:47.429 megan: What do you think?
34 00:03:48.580 ⇒ 00:03:49.740 megan: I mean…
35 00:03:50.110 ⇒ 00:03:59.130 megan: like, the… so their contract was a little unique, at least based on the active ones that I’ve seen over the past couple months, like.
36 00:03:59.370 ⇒ 00:04:06.460 megan: That whole hosting model isn’t something that’s really done for, for other clients, is it?
37 00:04:06.950 ⇒ 00:04:19.169 Uttam Kumaran: But it’s actually not like the… I mean, we don’t host anything for any of our clients. It’s actually the only thing unique about that deal was that it was on a performance basis. Like, it was on a…
38 00:04:19.339 ⇒ 00:04:26.220 Uttam Kumaran: it was, like, on a success basis, but the contract has nothing to do with, like, how…
39 00:04:26.420 ⇒ 00:04:30.979 Uttam Kumaran: the system is built, necessarily. Like, it’s… they’re not buying from us.
40 00:04:31.320 ⇒ 00:04:39.949 Uttam Kumaran: like, the agreement we signed is that all their stuff is theirs and things like that. More of, like, the payment is more on just, like, on a success terms, if that makes sense.
41 00:04:40.770 ⇒ 00:04:49.070 megan: Yeah, for, pulling it up just so I can see… Because there was something,
42 00:04:49.900 ⇒ 00:04:52.190 megan: So it was the renewal from May.
43 00:04:53.290 ⇒ 00:04:53.705 megan: Hmm…
44 00:04:59.190 ⇒ 00:05:03.429 megan: So, I mean, if all of these with the Andy assistant
45 00:05:03.880 ⇒ 00:05:08.410 megan: are configured and deployed in their environment, then…
46 00:05:08.600 ⇒ 00:05:12.570 megan: But you’re saying there’s one piece that isn’t?
47 00:05:13.660 ⇒ 00:05:18.850 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, there’s, like, one part of the logic, but the chatbot is all within them, it’s all their source data.
48 00:05:22.080 ⇒ 00:05:23.030 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.
49 00:05:24.530 ⇒ 00:05:26.700 megan: I mean, I think for…
50 00:05:26.850 ⇒ 00:05:36.880 megan: I see where he’s… so the reason it’s even coming up is because clearly they’re going through an audit with the comptroller, and that’s what raised it. I don’t know if you.
51 00:05:36.880 ⇒ 00:05:37.270 Uttam Kumaran: Okay.
52 00:05:37.270 ⇒ 00:05:39.339 megan: Or the emails, or, like.
53 00:05:39.340 ⇒ 00:05:40.669 Uttam Kumaran: I am, yeah.
54 00:05:40.670 ⇒ 00:05:50.300 megan: Yeah, so… You know, so there’s obviously something where it, like, kind of got flagged to them externally.
55 00:05:50.570 ⇒ 00:05:59.430 megan: And, yeah, and I think… I think the confusion is, like, in their contract.
56 00:05:59.750 ⇒ 00:06:02.849 megan: Which I have up, so let me just share my screen.
57 00:06:07.020 ⇒ 00:06:14.059 megan: It’s like… You know, some… sometimes it’s like, when you see things like subscription.
58 00:06:14.380 ⇒ 00:06:29.379 megan: And, like, that starts to, you know, kind of flag, oh, subscription, like, software as a service, so… so it’s like, yeah, I mean, here’s the tiers that you were talking about, yeah.
59 00:06:29.820 ⇒ 00:06:35.499 megan: they’ll subs… like, I think it might just be, this is the section.
60 00:06:35.660 ⇒ 00:06:38.609 megan: That’s kind of throwing that off. I see.
61 00:06:39.780 ⇒ 00:06:47.930 megan: I… I think that’s… and then it’s assessment usages, we aggregated… okay, so…
62 00:06:49.110 ⇒ 00:06:54.839 Uttam Kumaran: Well, we also have an… we typically have, like, an IP agreement that indicates that it’s all…
63 00:06:55.310 ⇒ 00:06:59.950 Uttam Kumaran: Theirs, but also… .
64 00:06:59.950 ⇒ 00:07:03.700 megan: Well, that can… that can be the case even if you’re hosting it, though.
65 00:07:04.360 ⇒ 00:07:04.850 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah…
66 00:07:05.430 ⇒ 00:07:09.780 megan: So… I don’t know that that’s a foolproof argument.
67 00:07:09.940 ⇒ 00:07:10.640 Uttam Kumaran: Okay.
68 00:07:10.840 ⇒ 00:07:21.530 megan: I know what you’re saying, though, but, but I think, like, with this one, like, this is, okay, ongoing implementation, configuration, optimization.
69 00:07:21.810 ⇒ 00:07:28.320 megan: of Brainforge’s proprietary AI assistant platform. So…
70 00:07:28.590 ⇒ 00:07:34.119 megan: Okay, so then this is where it’s like, okay, well then, I can see how, like.
71 00:07:34.490 ⇒ 00:07:41.660 megan: And maybe it’s a little bit different just in practicality and how it’s actually being used, but at least if, like.
72 00:07:42.060 ⇒ 00:07:52.200 megan: someone, especially on the audit side, see… I can see how it’s things like Brainforge’s proprietary AI Assistant platform.
73 00:07:52.620 ⇒ 00:08:03.560 megan: You know, to support theirs, like, that does start to… At least on paper, sound like hosted services.
74 00:08:04.350 ⇒ 00:08:12.570 megan: So I… I think it’s… it’s some confusion, and maybe it’s just expectation setting, that, like, hey, the way that this is…
75 00:08:12.580 ⇒ 00:08:25.969 megan: described in this Exhibit A isn’t really indicative of how we’re delivering services to you, which is more professional services, kind of custom deployed in their environment that they host.
76 00:08:26.260 ⇒ 00:08:33.380 megan: Yeah. So, I think that’s kind of what needs to be articulated with, like.
77 00:08:33.380 ⇒ 00:08:34.030 Uttam Kumaran: Okay.
78 00:08:34.030 ⇒ 00:08:41.980 megan: The right, like, business context and, you know, tech words, for lack of a better term.
79 00:08:41.980 ⇒ 00:08:46.590 Uttam Kumaran: Yes. But I, I think just based on this, is like…
80 00:08:48.780 ⇒ 00:09:01.579 megan: I think that’s really where it’s coming from, is just kind of resetting expectations about, like, this part, because it does… it does make it sound like there’s a Brainforge AI assistant.
81 00:09:01.800 ⇒ 00:09:03.729 Uttam Kumaran: Yes. That they’re…
82 00:09:03.730 ⇒ 00:09:13.179 megan: that is hosted by BrainForge that they’re leveraging. But what I’m hearing from you is that it’s something that is more proprietary to them
83 00:09:13.480 ⇒ 00:09:14.160 megan: utilize.
84 00:09:14.160 ⇒ 00:09:15.560 Uttam Kumaran: Totally, I mean, there’s nothing really…
85 00:09:15.560 ⇒ 00:09:16.020 megan: Yeah.
86 00:09:16.020 ⇒ 00:09:18.530 Uttam Kumaran: That’s, like, yeah, it’s all configured to them.
87 00:09:20.020 ⇒ 00:09:24.200 Uttam Kumaran: So, I mean, I mean, let me at least even at least go look at, like, what our last…
88 00:09:26.520 ⇒ 00:09:30.350 Uttam Kumaran: Email with him was… .
89 00:09:34.910 ⇒ 00:09:37.960 megan: Yeah, I saw a follow-up from him today.
90 00:09:37.960 ⇒ 00:09:52.209 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, so he said, I just… I just want to know the reasoning behind not charging tax. We are being audited and everything. The Texas State Controller are telling me points as being a taxable service. If you have anything I can use as far as state ruling, that would be appreciated.
91 00:09:52.830 ⇒ 00:09:58.390 Uttam Kumaran: Will ABC… will Brainforge invoice ABC for the back sales tax?
92 00:09:58.850 ⇒ 00:10:04.499 Uttam Kumaran: But then if you get audited, you will be on the hook, and we’ll have to pay penalties and interest to the first invoice.
93 00:10:05.790 ⇒ 00:10:11.470 Uttam Kumaran: We wanted to make… yeah, and I saw your note, So…
94 00:10:13.640 ⇒ 00:10:19.410 Uttam Kumaran: I mean, what do you think is best? I can basically say that this isn’t…
95 00:10:19.940 ⇒ 00:10:28.100 Uttam Kumaran: this is… we are not a software as a service, and we are not a platform. All of this is configured to ABC, and… and…
96 00:10:28.990 ⇒ 00:10:32.660 Uttam Kumaran: lived, like, within their… their environment. So…
97 00:10:33.170 ⇒ 00:10:41.819 Uttam Kumaran: Well, you’re not purchasing a cloud-based service from us. Like, we are an implementation firm. Like, we are a professional service firm.
98 00:10:42.820 ⇒ 00:10:55.439 megan: Yes, I think that’s what, if he was asking for some… I can, take what you just said and throw it into ChatGBT to reference the exact, like, state statutes.
99 00:10:55.620 ⇒ 00:10:59.510 megan: for sales tax, and respond back if you want. I think that might.
100 00:10:59.510 ⇒ 00:11:05.909 Uttam Kumaran: That would be great, so maybe even I’ll just send a quick note in our finance channel, so Ari…
101 00:11:06.060 ⇒ 00:11:14.460 Uttam Kumaran: NBC sales tax… So, I think the biggest thing we can say here is that
102 00:11:16.050 ⇒ 00:11:25.080 Uttam Kumaran: Couple things. So, one… We are not a software-as-a-service platform, nor an AI… platform.
103 00:11:25.340 ⇒ 00:11:27.799 Uttam Kumaran: We are a professional service firm.
104 00:11:28.110 ⇒ 00:11:39.330 Uttam Kumaran: the ABC solution is deployed and hosted on ABC’s infrastructure.
105 00:11:39.330 ⇒ 00:11:39.890 megan: Hmm.
106 00:11:39.890 ⇒ 00:11:44.000 Uttam Kumaran: And then, yeah, Megan, you could follow up with the statute that sort of indicates
107 00:11:44.330 ⇒ 00:11:47.989 Uttam Kumaran: That, like, that is exempt under the existing sales tax.
108 00:11:47.990 ⇒ 00:11:50.800 megan: Yeah, professional services, yeah.
109 00:11:50.800 ⇒ 00:11:51.570 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.
110 00:11:53.980 ⇒ 00:11:57.209 Uttam Kumaran: What else? We’re doing anti-platform personas.
111 00:11:59.240 ⇒ 00:12:00.200 Uttam Kumaran: Sure.
112 00:12:03.590 ⇒ 00:12:14.349 megan: Yeah, and then, I’ll respond back, and then if he needs anything more beyond that, which would probably be more technical.
113 00:12:14.350 ⇒ 00:12:15.480 Uttam Kumaran: It’s fine, yeah.
114 00:12:15.480 ⇒ 00:12:22.350 megan: then yeah, then I think you can respond, but if he’s kind of coming at it from a sales tax perspective, then I can kind of put that
115 00:12:22.610 ⇒ 00:12:32.290 megan: lens on it, and and if we need to, I’ll… I’ll also suggest if we need to revise the current exhibit.
116 00:12:32.290 ⇒ 00:12:33.020 Uttam Kumaran: Yes.
117 00:12:33.190 ⇒ 00:12:49.870 megan: to clarify, because it does reference things like subscription, which I can… and I’ll say that, too, like, I can understand how some of this might be confusing, but this is how it’s being… the services are being delivered to you, which does fall under non-taxable.
118 00:12:50.120 ⇒ 00:12:58.270 megan: So, okay. Because, yeah, I mean, even when I was reading it myself, too, I was like, oh, is this, like, kind of a one-off, like…
119 00:12:58.270 ⇒ 00:13:04.520 Uttam Kumaran: No, I see how… see how, like, yeah, the language there isn’t clear. But yeah, we don’t do any… we’re not selling any of our own,
120 00:13:04.920 ⇒ 00:13:11.920 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, we’re not selling our own platform or anything that would qualify there. In fact, if anything, I’m just gonna…
121 00:13:12.330 ⇒ 00:13:17.459 Uttam Kumaran: We just have to start being a lot more explicit about that, not only the language, but…
122 00:13:17.890 ⇒ 00:13:23.089 Uttam Kumaran: when we go tomorrow… I mean, there will be… there could be a time where we do go with more of a managed service, but…
123 00:13:23.800 ⇒ 00:13:24.749 Uttam Kumaran: That’s not right now.
124 00:13:25.280 ⇒ 00:13:31.260 megan: Yeah, that… that introduces complexity in a couple different ways, so, yeah.
125 00:13:32.940 ⇒ 00:13:37.870 megan: Okay, alright, well, that’s a good game plan there.
126 00:13:41.500 ⇒ 00:13:42.759 megan: Okay, and then.
127 00:13:42.760 ⇒ 00:13:48.769 Uttam Kumaran: Okay, the other item that just came up recently that I’ve sort of been lagging on is,
128 00:13:49.140 ⇒ 00:14:07.160 Uttam Kumaran: Ian from, you know, TCEB from insurance, just… he mentioned that there is, like, this self-audit to be completed on Hartford. I started it, but there was actually quite a bit of asks about, like… they basically asked, like, for each contractor, how much we’re paid.
129 00:14:08.670 ⇒ 00:14:14.920 Uttam Kumaran: So I was wondering if that’s something that… I mean, I was… it was basically at that point, I was gonna ask the team anyways, but…
130 00:14:15.210 ⇒ 00:14:20.130 megan: Yeah, well… We’re familiar with those, we can… Okay.
131 00:14:21.130 ⇒ 00:14:32.210 megan: I can… I can send it to Tina, she usually manages those for us, so let me see…
132 00:14:33.270 ⇒ 00:14:42.089 megan: Can you send over the… like… Credentials? Credentials, or can we be added? Yeah, either one would work.
133 00:14:42.740 ⇒ 00:14:46.129 Uttam Kumaran: Okay, yeah, let me… I’ll just send over the credentials.
134 00:14:56.350 ⇒ 00:14:59.339 megan: Yeah, I’ll send it to Tina, she’ll take…
135 00:14:59.670 ⇒ 00:15:05.839 megan: And then I’ll ask her if she doesn’t, because I don’t think she’s got necessarily all of the info.
136 00:15:05.980 ⇒ 00:15:14.529 megan: Well, she should have it, so… but yes, we can definitely review that.
137 00:15:14.790 ⇒ 00:15:17.339 Uttam Kumaran: Okay, great. So I will,
138 00:15:18.090 ⇒ 00:15:22.439 Uttam Kumaran: I’m gonna put it into this thread under where I said this.
139 00:15:22.440 ⇒ 00:15:24.190 megan: Okay, perfect.
140 00:15:34.670 ⇒ 00:15:40.910 megan: Perfect, I will get that, yeah, I’ll work on that.
141 00:15:41.810 ⇒ 00:15:45.560 Uttam Kumaran: Okay, perfect. And then we met with Kelly mid-month, and then we’ll…
142 00:15:45.860 ⇒ 00:15:50.049 Uttam Kumaran: I told her that maybe we can meet halfway through next week.
143 00:15:54.410 ⇒ 00:15:55.659 megan: Yeah, that’s good.
144 00:15:56.260 ⇒ 00:16:06.809 Uttam Kumaran: to just, like, close out, because I know it’s Thanksgiving, and then she’s… I mean, she mentioned that she was, like, in Spain, so I was like, okay, well, if anything, I can call her on Friday and just, like, close out the week.
145 00:16:07.160 ⇒ 00:16:14.999 Uttam Kumaran: I know we have, I think, maybe 2 or 3 more… invoices than last month.
146 00:16:15.510 ⇒ 00:16:21.210 megan: Are you… are you expecting then the team will not have any… anything billable after next Wednesday, then?
147 00:16:21.210 ⇒ 00:16:26.090 Uttam Kumaran: No, they will, I just, for the US folks, I just want to, like, make sure by Wednesday
148 00:16:26.980 ⇒ 00:16:32.040 Uttam Kumaran: And then… I’m gonna be, like, in and out, I know Robert’s gonna be in and out, so…
149 00:16:32.250 ⇒ 00:16:37.290 Uttam Kumaran: I just was like, let’s talk on Wednesday, that way I can, like, poke anybody, and then on Friday, it should be all…
150 00:16:38.250 ⇒ 00:16:44.159 Uttam Kumaran: wrapped up. I mean, the folks outside of the U.S, definitely, I think some… bunch of them are gonna still be on, so…
151 00:16:44.330 ⇒ 00:16:46.080 megan: Okay, that makes sense.
152 00:16:46.080 ⇒ 00:16:52.640 Uttam Kumaran: But all of our U… it’s just… I don’t… I’m not sure… I think most of our… most… all of our clients are U.S, so most of them will…
153 00:16:52.930 ⇒ 00:17:00.779 Uttam Kumaran: will be off, but I’m… it’s… the US folks will have time off, I think other folks… there’s some internal work people may be working on, so…
154 00:17:05.290 ⇒ 00:17:06.340 megan: Sounds good.
155 00:17:07.040 ⇒ 00:17:14.750 Uttam Kumaran: And then the only other, maybe, kind of new thing is we’re starting to sell, like, more enterprise-style deals that are…
156 00:17:15.210 ⇒ 00:17:18.680 Uttam Kumaran: Like, hourly based on role.
157 00:17:19.270 ⇒ 00:17:25.850 Uttam Kumaran: I told this to Kelly, and I think, CES, like, CTA will be the first one like that.
158 00:17:28.770 ⇒ 00:17:34.719 Uttam Kumaran: But I just may need to think about how we… if how we can indicate that better in Clockify.
159 00:17:35.270 ⇒ 00:17:40.509 Uttam Kumaran: So it’s clear, like, Whose time on a client as to what role?
160 00:17:42.510 ⇒ 00:17:45.089 megan: Yeah, that,
161 00:17:45.920 ⇒ 00:17:53.839 megan: Well, we can definitely… we’ll use the first one as a test to see, and are we from Clockify to something else?
162 00:17:55.500 ⇒ 00:17:59.600 Uttam Kumaran: So we considered it, it just was, like, a lot to deal with, and I just punted it.
163 00:17:59.980 ⇒ 00:18:00.680 Uttam Kumaran: Okay.
164 00:18:00.680 ⇒ 00:18:03.409 megan: Yeah, that’s fine, I just want to make sure we’re keeping up.
165 00:18:04.290 ⇒ 00:18:09.009 megan: And, yeah, I mean, we’ll… we can…
166 00:18:09.460 ⇒ 00:18:14.210 megan: We can do it a couple different ways, if it’s… per team.
167 00:18:14.350 ⇒ 00:18:23.630 megan: Or if it’s, like, per team member, then we can kind of just manage it offline. That’s fine if there’s, like, one or two like that.
168 00:18:23.760 ⇒ 00:18:37.240 megan: But, yeah, obviously, if we had something… I don’t think Clockify does a… has really a great way of tracking those kinds of, like, multi-tiers within the same project. So,
169 00:18:38.230 ⇒ 00:18:42.590 megan: Yeah, I think we’ll just need to figure out how to manage that, but…
170 00:18:42.820 ⇒ 00:18:58.680 megan: From an invoicing to the client perspective, yeah, that’s no problem. And we’ll know, like, how many hours were allocated to the client in total, so we’ll be able to tie it out, and if something’s not adding up, then we can dig further.
171 00:18:58.740 ⇒ 00:19:04.729 megan: And Kelly’s really good at that stuff, so I don’t anticipate, you know.
172 00:19:04.900 ⇒ 00:19:08.869 megan: Having it be, like, a big to-do, so…
173 00:19:09.760 ⇒ 00:19:10.720 Uttam Kumaran: Okay. Yeah.
174 00:19:10.750 ⇒ 00:19:14.890 megan: And CTA has not signed yet, then? They’re close.
175 00:19:14.890 ⇒ 00:19:16.600 Uttam Kumaran: No, they have, they have signed, yeah.
176 00:19:16.600 ⇒ 00:19:18.610 megan: Okay, okay, gotcha.
177 00:19:19.420 ⇒ 00:19:26.470 Uttam Kumaran: They’ve signed, and then Element is the only one we’re, like, expecting to get signed, maybe sometime this week.
178 00:19:30.230 ⇒ 00:19:43.829 megan: Okay, yeah, we’ll look at those then. Oh, that’s right, the CTA one was, like, a fixed amount over a two-month period, so that’s a little bit different than, so you’re talking about, kind of.
179 00:19:43.830 ⇒ 00:19:49.909 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, it was like a fixed… it’s like a fixed budget at a certain… and then we kind of can fill that with… yeah.
180 00:19:50.130 ⇒ 00:19:55.799 megan: Okay, so that’s kind of like a pilot, then. You’re talking about more of, like, the ongoing support, so…
181 00:19:57.280 ⇒ 00:20:05.490 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, like, urban… like, urban stems, like, there’s just… as we sell larger enterprise deals, a lot of them are just saying, like, time and materials, so we…
182 00:20:06.290 ⇒ 00:20:09.459 Uttam Kumaran: I’m not sure, we just may have more cases of this.
183 00:20:10.350 ⇒ 00:20:11.290 megan: Okay.
184 00:20:12.590 ⇒ 00:20:16.199 megan: That’s, yeah, we’ll figure out a good way to manage that.
185 00:20:17.450 ⇒ 00:20:28.330 megan: Let’s see… so I know we’ve also talked about, budget and how to allocate different things, too, so…
186 00:20:30.110 ⇒ 00:20:39.050 megan: Was there… was there anything on that that you wanted to talk, or anything else you had on your list? Otherwise, I can go through the budget.
187 00:20:39.170 ⇒ 00:20:40.090 megan: stuff.
188 00:20:40.090 ⇒ 00:20:41.150 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, that was…
189 00:20:41.350 ⇒ 00:20:50.519 Uttam Kumaran: That was it on my list. Yeah, that’s only stuff kind of top of mind. And then I think once we talk, with legal tomorrow.
190 00:20:50.800 ⇒ 00:20:55.100 Uttam Kumaran: I know it’s, like, sort of a tight turnaround on C-Corp stuff, so…
191 00:20:55.380 ⇒ 00:20:57.660 Uttam Kumaran: Just kind of, like, manage that week to week.
192 00:20:57.970 ⇒ 00:21:01.190 Uttam Kumaran: That’s probably the other thing that I’m just thinking about.
193 00:21:02.270 ⇒ 00:21:08.029 megan: Yeah, I… I mean, I don’t think it’ll nec… if we’re doing 1231,
194 00:21:08.130 ⇒ 00:21:12.199 megan: then… well, I mean, we’ll find out tomorrow, but,
195 00:21:12.310 ⇒ 00:21:23.270 megan: Like, since that date hasn’t really happened yet, then we kind of have to wait until the formation is effective in order to do the accounting stuff anyway.
196 00:21:23.410 ⇒ 00:21:38.090 megan: So, I think it does… it does give us an okay cushion, but we’ll see what Robin says, because I don’t… I, like, at least for Troy’s perspective, I don’t think, like, the filings and things that he’s doing can really be,
197 00:21:38.310 ⇒ 00:21:43.170 megan: you know, impacted until 1231 has happened, you know what I mean? Okay.
198 00:21:43.580 ⇒ 00:21:43.980 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.
199 00:21:43.980 ⇒ 00:21:47.580 megan: Because the conversion has to be inked, and then…
200 00:21:48.030 ⇒ 00:21:53.850 megan: I don’t know, maybe there’s some things he can do to kind of work ahead, but I guess we’ll find out tomorrow.
201 00:21:54.960 ⇒ 00:21:55.580 Uttam Kumaran: Okay.
202 00:21:57.410 ⇒ 00:21:59.900 megan: So…
203 00:22:00.590 ⇒ 00:22:09.509 megan: Let’s see… I’ve got kind of a first pass at, like, a pretty bare-bones operational budget in Fathom.
204 00:22:09.840 ⇒ 00:22:16.349 megan: Okay. If you’ve got a few minutes… I’m good until 3. Do you have to…
205 00:22:16.350 ⇒ 00:22:18.950 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, let’s… yeah, let’s… let’s do that.
206 00:22:19.400 ⇒ 00:22:20.230 megan: Okay.
207 00:22:20.350 ⇒ 00:22:30.910 megan: I’ll show you what this looks like, and kind of where I’m getting assumptions from, but… And then I can give you access into this, too.
208 00:22:31.330 ⇒ 00:22:35.399 megan: we’ll get it more granular over time. I was just going with
209 00:22:35.760 ⇒ 00:22:42.540 megan: what I… what I know is, you know, kind of top of mind, so…
210 00:22:42.900 ⇒ 00:22:50.829 megan: So this is the P&L, and pretty much just using our finance models forecast here.
211 00:22:51.430 ⇒ 00:22:56.320 megan: Or, like, this… this is signed steals only, so when we’re looking at the sales.
212 00:22:56.720 ⇒ 00:23:04.480 megan: just keep… keep that in mind, like, I’ve really… like, I’m really just kind of going with, like, these bottom two numbers, which you’ll see as revenue.
213 00:23:04.790 ⇒ 00:23:09.250 megan: 112, doo-do for November.
214 00:23:10.690 ⇒ 00:23:15.780 megan: Oh, because there was an additional from Eden.
215 00:23:18.030 ⇒ 00:23:22.820 megan: Why is this one… this one must have changed since I updated this.
216 00:23:31.740 ⇒ 00:23:39.799 megan: So, I don’t know if something moved around here, but I’ll just zero this out for now, because then it’s closer to what we’ve got tracking here.
217 00:23:40.010 ⇒ 00:23:41.440 megan: Yes.
218 00:23:49.970 ⇒ 00:23:50.700 megan: Nope.
219 00:23:52.830 ⇒ 00:23:58.230 megan: And then the 99. So, I’ve got it pretty much set up where,
220 00:23:58.520 ⇒ 00:24:04.199 megan: The baseline here is just coming from a 50%.
221 00:24:04.510 ⇒ 00:24:07.780 megan: Of, you know, team time spent on that.
222 00:24:08.550 ⇒ 00:24:23.899 megan: I was going back on the budget we put together back in October with Amber, and I think some of our assumptions in some cases were just too high. Basically, when I looked at it again.
223 00:24:23.930 ⇒ 00:24:29.980 megan: I was like, it’s… with… with all those things, we were operating on a…
224 00:24:30.100 ⇒ 00:24:35.370 megan: Best-case basis with, like, single-digit profit margin percentages, so…
225 00:24:35.470 ⇒ 00:24:40.819 megan: Been looking at this, trying to figure out how to make sense of all the numbers.
226 00:24:41.010 ⇒ 00:24:46.709 megan: But so, that’s kind of the baseline expense, which is directly tied to revenue.
227 00:24:47.410 ⇒ 00:24:48.030 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.
228 00:24:48.030 ⇒ 00:24:59.169 megan: And then paid out the following month, so that’s what you’ll see here. It’s all the team time that’s accrued for November, you know, ideally it gets paid out in December.
229 00:24:59.530 ⇒ 00:25:14.530 megan: on the revenue side, for baseline revenue, we’ve got… since we’ve got a good amount of revenue that’s, billed in advance that hits the P&L, actually most of that is…
230 00:25:14.710 ⇒ 00:25:20.210 megan: When all things are on time, most of that actually hits the books same month, just based on.
231 00:25:20.210 ⇒ 00:25:20.910 Uttam Kumaran: Yes.
232 00:25:20.910 ⇒ 00:25:26.469 megan: Based on how we’ve got some clients that are billed twice a month, some that are billed.
233 00:25:26.470 ⇒ 00:25:31.769 Uttam Kumaran: Well, yeah, I mean, that’s when, like, I mean, that was basically the change that we talked about this summer, which I was.
234 00:25:31.770 ⇒ 00:25:32.710 megan: Yeah.
235 00:25:33.060 ⇒ 00:25:48.059 Uttam Kumaran: Okay? Like, so, and every… no one’s pushed back, really, except for the clients that are really big. Like, CTA, for example, we would have lost a deal had I, like, changed terms on them, because, like, it already took them a month and a half just to, like, get through legal.
236 00:25:48.120 ⇒ 00:25:55.510 Uttam Kumaran: But for the most part, I’m at least trying to get some amount up front, and if we can build the whole thing, then yeah, so…
237 00:25:56.460 ⇒ 00:25:58.099 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, it’s getting better.
238 00:25:58.450 ⇒ 00:25:59.310 megan: Yeah.
239 00:25:59.720 ⇒ 00:26:16.650 megan: Yeah, that’s good. So, you know, we’ll review this periodically just to make sure, if we need to adjust. Like, if there are more enterprise clients that are, you know, kind of shifting, then we can adjust that, but this is just kind of for basic cash flow assumptions.
240 00:26:17.040 ⇒ 00:26:32.489 megan: And this is all the baseline expense. So, so G&A, I mean, a lot of this is just kind of based on the 3-month averages. Pretty much all of these are. They’re all pretty much small amounts, and so there’s not a ton there.
241 00:26:33.750 ⇒ 00:26:53.610 megan: the independent contractors, so this is how we’ve got things broken out now, is, like, that team OpEx. Yeah. And we’ve been trending higher. I know last month, I give you a lot of credit. We had that meeting, like, mid-October, and your task was to find 17K.
242 00:26:53.610 ⇒ 00:26:57.900 Uttam Kumaran: I’m good at listening and trying, yeah, so…
243 00:26:57.900 ⇒ 00:27:04.770 megan: Yeah, like, that came, like… I mean, the precision is a bit impressive, so…
244 00:27:04.770 ⇒ 00:27:07.549 Uttam Kumaran: No, I mean, I won’t take any credit for that, I just…
245 00:27:07.890 ⇒ 00:27:13.650 Uttam Kumaran: I’ll try to… well, we did it in a couple of ways, like, we moved some people off, and then I…
246 00:27:14.460 ⇒ 00:27:32.239 Uttam Kumaran: there was a lot of, like, inefficient time, and I just moved it to people whose time was more efficient. And yeah, we just, like… yeah, there was just… some stuff was, like, runaway, and so we kind of corrected that. I mean, I’m not… this… this number should go up linear to the revenue, so I’m not, like,
247 00:27:32.310 ⇒ 00:27:36.979 Uttam Kumaran: I… I’m… I guess it’s… that’s where it’s more… should… we should think about it more as a…
248 00:27:37.220 ⇒ 00:27:47.530 Uttam Kumaran: percentage basis. The other… the other way we can do this is, and I don’t know if this was your suggestion, but we’re gonna start… we’re gonna actually get more defined on roles.
249 00:27:47.950 ⇒ 00:27:57.899 Uttam Kumaran: And so maybe we could… we could basically break this out by, like, delivery role. For example, we’re gonna have, like, analysts and architects.
250 00:27:57.960 ⇒ 00:27:58.660 megan: Hmm.
251 00:27:59.060 ⇒ 00:28:01.390 Uttam Kumaran: And so… bet.
252 00:28:02.140 ⇒ 00:28:05.640 Uttam Kumaran: For me, I’m mainly looking at it as a percentage of revenue.
253 00:28:06.980 ⇒ 00:28:20.839 megan: Yeah, and here, I really was just kind of plugging based on, the other cash movements that I’ll get to in a second, because what I’m ultimately watching is, like, the cash on hand. Now.
254 00:28:21.020 ⇒ 00:28:35.220 megan: keep in mind, January forward, like I said, this is all just December contracted revenue blown forward, so there’s no new sales factored in here, so kind of take it with a first pass grain of salt, if you will.
255 00:28:35.300 ⇒ 00:28:42.290 megan: But for these, I was really just trying to, like, see, well, what would we need to do for the internal
256 00:28:42.480 ⇒ 00:28:52.080 megan: time, basically to make sure that this doesn’t go zero. And so that’s kind of, like, where I was… I was ending up at.
257 00:28:52.150 ⇒ 00:29:02.689 megan: Now what you’ll also see is we’ve got these things called micro-forecasts. So, I’ve got a couple different things that are all related to the C-Corp conversion.
258 00:29:02.850 ⇒ 00:29:13.090 megan: It’s kind of like a downstream effect, but, like, if we were to… so these are also some plugs for some,
259 00:29:13.650 ⇒ 00:29:14.250 megan: you know.
260 00:29:14.250 ⇒ 00:29:15.380 Uttam Kumaran: I see, yeah, yeah, yeah.
261 00:29:15.490 ⇒ 00:29:17.500 megan: past due amounts, it’s mostly the.
262 00:29:17.500 ⇒ 00:29:21.160 Uttam Kumaran: And so, explain If you explain to me the micro-forecast.
263 00:29:21.470 ⇒ 00:29:24.720 Uttam Kumaran: what, like, in English, so they’re just, like.
264 00:29:25.380 ⇒ 00:29:32.380 Uttam Kumaran: And, like, are they just like, oh, this cell goes down by here, and what does it impact? Or explain to me, like, how… what it kind of is.
265 00:29:32.810 ⇒ 00:29:42.020 megan: like, if, like, I’ll give you an example, like, if we were to say, that, like, like, oh, we’re not gonna,
266 00:29:42.170 ⇒ 00:29:44.470 megan: You know, we’re gonna hold off on…
267 00:29:44.670 ⇒ 00:29:56.610 megan: we’re gonna pay the July and August amounts, but maybe let’s hold off on September. Then I can toggle that off, and it, you know, adjust the… all the assumptions.
268 00:29:57.120 ⇒ 00:30:06.160 megan: So, another way to look at it is, like, if we were like, oh, let’s not do the C-Corp conversion, and we take that out.
269 00:30:06.160 ⇒ 00:30:07.060 Uttam Kumaran: I see, okay.
270 00:30:07.060 ⇒ 00:30:08.320 megan: And then…
271 00:30:08.320 ⇒ 00:30:09.470 Uttam Kumaran: Oh, great, okay.
272 00:30:09.470 ⇒ 00:30:12.620 megan: B Corp, then… so if you were to say, like.
273 00:30:12.960 ⇒ 00:30:27.579 megan: you know, I don’t think we’re ready to do the C Corp, we might need to do that later in Q1, etc. So I’m just saying, hypothetically. Then, you know, we could see, okay, if we don’t have that one-time project outlay for the accounting and legal teams.
274 00:30:27.580 ⇒ 00:30:38.250 megan: then, then, you know, we’re not gonna absorb the new Eden, and we won’t have Robert as an FTE.
275 00:30:38.600 ⇒ 00:30:38.970 megan: Yeah.
276 00:30:39.240 ⇒ 00:30:41.269 megan: You know what I mean? So those things, like…
277 00:30:41.270 ⇒ 00:30:48.100 Uttam Kumaran: Could you also, could you also do this… I assume you can also do, like, revenue forecasts, right? Like, we could…
278 00:30:48.100 ⇒ 00:30:48.440 megan: Yeah.
279 00:30:48.440 ⇒ 00:30:51.360 Uttam Kumaran: potentially have, like, for example.
280 00:30:51.610 ⇒ 00:30:59.089 Uttam Kumaran: We could have a fork… we could have revenue forecasts for deals that are in signing, and deals that are… we have, like.
281 00:30:59.480 ⇒ 00:31:03.130 Uttam Kumaran: verbal from. That way, we can also look at
282 00:31:04.030 ⇒ 00:31:09.420 Uttam Kumaran: like, the impact of if those were to close, basically. Because to give you a sense, we have two…
283 00:31:09.990 ⇒ 00:31:16.119 Uttam Kumaran: The Element deal is, like, they’re in contract review, so that’s another 15 grand for 3 months.
284 00:31:16.870 ⇒ 00:31:19.000 Uttam Kumaran: Starting December 1st.
285 00:31:19.290 ⇒ 00:31:20.409 Uttam Kumaran: Yep.
286 00:31:20.810 ⇒ 00:31:27.199 Uttam Kumaran: we have a deal with Ellie that is also… it’s… that’s in more proposal review.
287 00:31:27.650 ⇒ 00:31:34.519 Uttam Kumaran: And then we have 2 outstanding… we have 3 outstanding deals in proposal review, like, one with Magic Spoon for…
288 00:31:35.260 ⇒ 00:31:45.499 Uttam Kumaran: that’s, like, 20 grand. One with this other company, Lilo, for 30 grand, and then another one, and then another one with Ellie. And so, like, yeah, I would say we probably have…
289 00:31:46.160 ⇒ 00:31:49.570 Uttam Kumaran: Another, like… we have probably 30…
290 00:31:50.320 ⇒ 00:31:55.270 Uttam Kumaran: we have 30 grand in MRR, right, in, let’s just say one month, in…
291 00:31:55.490 ⇒ 00:32:00.069 Uttam Kumaran: Proposal review, and 15 per month in…
292 00:32:00.430 ⇒ 00:32:06.210 Uttam Kumaran: in signing, basically. So I… I would… that would be great to also review, because…
293 00:32:06.320 ⇒ 00:32:11.179 Uttam Kumaran: this is the tough part, is, like, I… I have to start to be able to make some…
294 00:32:11.540 ⇒ 00:32:17.940 Uttam Kumaran: recruiting decisions based on those, and now that we don’t… it’s not only just, like, one
295 00:32:18.500 ⇒ 00:32:23.989 Uttam Kumaran: deal that’s in progress. It’s… at any point, we typically have, like, 2 to 4 that are in those late stages.
296 00:32:24.780 ⇒ 00:32:28.640 Uttam Kumaran: I kind of need to be able to be like, okay, Rico, we need to go start to…
297 00:32:28.750 ⇒ 00:32:37.220 Uttam Kumaran: close someone… for this role for next month, right? When we look at our delivery availability, so… Here’s a.
298 00:32:37.220 ⇒ 00:32:42.010 megan: exactly how we can do that. So what was the 15K one that you mentioned?
299 00:32:42.010 ⇒ 00:32:44.280 Uttam Kumaran: element, so if you just type in LMNT.
300 00:32:44.280 ⇒ 00:32:44.850 megan: Fairness.
301 00:32:45.800 ⇒ 00:32:51.700 Uttam Kumaran: letters L-M-N-T, actually. It’s like the.
302 00:32:51.700 ⇒ 00:32:53.190 megan: Oh, okay.
303 00:32:53.700 ⇒ 00:32:57.399 Uttam Kumaran: It’s like the supplement powder, like the electrolyte powder company.
304 00:32:57.400 ⇒ 00:33:02.640 megan: Oh, I’ve got some of that stuff in my pantry, I haven’t used it yet.
305 00:33:02.640 ⇒ 00:33:04.970 Uttam Kumaran: They’re great. Expensive, though.
306 00:33:05.250 ⇒ 00:33:18.319 megan: Yeah, that’s cool. Okay, so, like, this is exactly how we can model that. So, we’d have it in here as, you would add it as its own micro-forecast. It’s gonna be revenue.
307 00:33:18.520 ⇒ 00:33:24.999 megan: AI or data. Do you, like… we’ve got a couple different data ones, sometimes I don’t know which one to use.
308 00:33:25.000 ⇒ 00:33:31.650 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, I actually, this is, again, I think, where we want to…
309 00:33:32.000 ⇒ 00:33:38.030 Uttam Kumaran: Robert’s getting more organized on the services themselves, so we can probably readjust this, but…
310 00:33:38.180 ⇒ 00:33:39.950 megan: I don’t really see…
311 00:33:40.400 ⇒ 00:33:43.429 Uttam Kumaran: These three is very different, but you can just put
312 00:33:43.750 ⇒ 00:33:48.270 Uttam Kumaran: Whatever the one that we’re building actively to, most commonly.
313 00:33:48.270 ⇒ 00:33:50.280 megan: I think it’s data analytics.
314 00:33:50.280 ⇒ 00:33:51.580 Uttam Kumaran: I assume it’s this one, yeah.
315 00:33:52.270 ⇒ 00:34:02.660 megan: I… I get confused with that, too. So, here’s exactly where we can go in and say, it’s a constant amount, 15,000…
316 00:34:02.890 ⇒ 00:34:06.560 megan: You know, for…
317 00:34:08.540 ⇒ 00:34:13.340 megan: Yeah, and then this will just kind of add it in, and then if you think that there’s…
318 00:34:13.580 ⇒ 00:34:17.900 megan: And this shows you exactly, like,
319 00:34:18.650 ⇒ 00:34:30.510 megan: you know, now, then… see, it defaults to that 7525 I was showing you earlier, but if we know, like, that, will this one be billed in advance?
320 00:34:31.290 ⇒ 00:34:33.229 megan: Like, it’ll be…
321 00:34:33.239 ⇒ 00:34:36.619 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, they haven’t come back with terms, but yeah, it should be billed.
322 00:34:36.849 ⇒ 00:34:38.599 Uttam Kumaran: Start a month, each month.
323 00:34:38.949 ⇒ 00:34:43.059 megan: So then we’ll adjust this timing profile to… it’s…
324 00:34:43.300 ⇒ 00:34:46.670 megan: Yeah, billed and collected in the same month.
325 00:34:47.469 ⇒ 00:34:52.230 megan: And so then you see, like, the impact of cash, kind of, over time.
326 00:34:52.760 ⇒ 00:35:00.100 megan: And then, if there’s any specific new team members that you think we’d be bringing on to support this.
327 00:35:00.730 ⇒ 00:35:02.480 Uttam Kumaran: Oh, okay. So, okay.
328 00:35:02.480 ⇒ 00:35:16.810 megan: And then this is where we could add that in, too. So this is someone… and this would be something that’s, like, brand new to baseline. It could also be existing team, but maybe there’ll be additional time that’s not factored in.
329 00:35:16.810 ⇒ 00:35:29.090 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, and that’s… that’s actually kind of, like, I always want to at least factor in that there’s, like, these are commonly… I mean, again, we… we want to do the worst case. We were doing this at, like, 40% margin.
330 00:35:29.390 ⇒ 00:35:31.129 Uttam Kumaran: gross, so… Yeah.
331 00:35:31.770 ⇒ 00:35:36.360 Uttam Kumaran: I would just basically assume that there is an additional cost there.
332 00:35:37.240 ⇒ 00:35:41.369 Uttam Kumaran: Like, and that cost is… Whatever that is.
333 00:35:41.370 ⇒ 00:35:42.070 megan: That’s time.
334 00:35:42.070 ⇒ 00:35:43.600 Uttam Kumaran: 6K.
335 00:35:44.630 ⇒ 00:35:46.939 megan: Could also just…
336 00:35:47.750 ⇒ 00:35:53.759 megan: Yeah, we could also just do a fixed amount. We could either do it as a formula, or…
337 00:35:53.880 ⇒ 00:36:13.580 megan: If it’s 6K there, then we’ll add this, but we know that this team member is, yeah, paid the next month. So there we’ve got, like, even though we’ve got all this activity captured, we’ve got the 15K of revenue coming in the door, the 6K of team time that’s spent to support that revenue.
338 00:36:13.680 ⇒ 00:36:26.840 megan: But you see, like, the cash, it’s… it’s already factoring in that, like, we get the 15K this month, we pay the 6K the following month, and we get another 15K, and then…
339 00:36:26.840 ⇒ 00:36:28.549 Uttam Kumaran: Exactly right, yeah, yeah.
340 00:36:28.550 ⇒ 00:36:37.910 megan: So then this is, like, how… when… I’d say when you have, like, the deal specifics that are that far along, this would be a good way we can manage them.
341 00:36:38.360 ⇒ 00:36:46.450 megan: And then, and then the cool part is then it’s like, okay, now if we’ve got that, you know, New Deal elevator.
342 00:36:57.610 ⇒ 00:37:02.479 megan: Something went wrong, great. I’m telling you, it’s just the week.
343 00:37:04.780 ⇒ 00:37:07.909 megan: Great, great, great.
344 00:37:07.910 ⇒ 00:37:11.740 Uttam Kumaran: And it’s back to hot today, by the way. I don’t know if you’ve been outside today.
345 00:37:11.740 ⇒ 00:37:14.509 megan: Oh, I know. Which is crazy.
346 00:37:15.040 ⇒ 00:37:16.000 megan: Yeah.
347 00:37:16.190 ⇒ 00:37:28.150 megan: But, the other thing I wanted to show you is, like, if we’ve got that in here, and then, like, oh, it’s holidays, they’re gonna push to January, then we can literally just drag it.
348 00:37:28.200 ⇒ 00:37:36.790 megan: So we can start to do that when you’ve got, like, specific names and numbers to deals, and we can see the real-time impact of cash and…
349 00:37:36.900 ⇒ 00:37:40.139 megan: Just update anything as we need to.
350 00:37:41.540 ⇒ 00:37:42.690 megan: So…
351 00:37:50.170 ⇒ 00:37:51.559 megan: Can you still hear me?
352 00:37:52.050 ⇒ 00:37:52.750 Uttam Kumaran: Yes.
353 00:37:53.040 ⇒ 00:38:03.560 megan: Okay, I got a little nervous with my internet thing. But… but yeah, I do have to run, I gotta meet with Kenzie at 3, but…
354 00:38:03.560 ⇒ 00:38:04.480 Uttam Kumaran: Okay.
355 00:38:04.500 ⇒ 00:38:15.409 megan: But we can definitely keep working on this, and then we can even kind of build out just, like, a generic sales, especially… I’d say for anything that’s, like.
356 00:38:15.730 ⇒ 00:38:31.389 megan: I’d say, probably for anything that’s gonna close over the next 3 months, you’re probably already in conversation with those people, and we can make some educated guesses. Anything that’s, like, 3 plus months beyond that, like, we’re probably guessing a little bit, and we can…
357 00:38:31.390 ⇒ 00:38:31.740 Uttam Kumaran: Okay.
358 00:38:31.740 ⇒ 00:38:35.789 megan: You know, be a little bit more conservative with that, but…
359 00:38:35.960 ⇒ 00:38:42.699 megan: I think that makes a lot of sense, and I can add in more of these if you want, also.
360 00:38:43.990 ⇒ 00:38:47.359 megan: And then we can just manage it a lot closer.
361 00:38:47.830 ⇒ 00:38:58.840 Uttam Kumaran: That would be great. I mean, basically, I would like us to, like, just create one when… ideally, if anybody… I would like us to have one that’s more of a… when people get to signing, and then one that’s more… Yeah.
362 00:38:58.950 ⇒ 00:39:06.969 Uttam Kumaran: like, proposal and review, because we assign… in HubSpot, we have some understanding of, like, the general conversion rates.
363 00:39:07.520 ⇒ 00:39:08.360 megan: Hmm…
364 00:39:08.360 ⇒ 00:39:11.219 Uttam Kumaran: If we can, like, if we can do both of those.
365 00:39:11.400 ⇒ 00:39:16.970 Uttam Kumaran: And Ricoh can totally supply, because we track those stages.
366 00:39:17.210 ⇒ 00:39:22.779 Uttam Kumaran: I don’t care about anything before that, because it’s… it’s gonna be not worth it, so…
367 00:39:23.260 ⇒ 00:39:23.720 megan: What?
368 00:39:23.720 ⇒ 00:39:32.590 Uttam Kumaran: But we’re ending up converting at a pretty good clip after things get to… in review, like, I don’t know, anywhere from, like, 20 to 40%, and then in signing.
369 00:39:32.910 ⇒ 00:39:36.220 Uttam Kumaran: Oh, like, it’s kind of closer to, like, 60-80%.
370 00:39:37.560 ⇒ 00:39:42.740 megan: What would you, what would you consider elements to be in, like, for a sale?
371 00:39:42.740 ⇒ 00:39:47.900 Uttam Kumaran: Element is in, is in, they’re in signing, basically, yeah.
372 00:39:48.570 ⇒ 00:39:48.970 megan: Gotcha.
373 00:39:48.970 ⇒ 00:39:52.120 Uttam Kumaran: We got the… we got the verbal go-ahead, and it’s in contract, it’s…
374 00:39:52.350 ⇒ 00:39:56.449 Uttam Kumaran: we… there’s kind of, like, either contract review or signing, but I would just say signing.
375 00:39:56.860 ⇒ 00:39:57.620 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.
376 00:39:57.930 ⇒ 00:40:02.300 megan: So we can set up a new category, And then…
377 00:40:03.070 ⇒ 00:40:06.220 megan: Like, manage them that way, too.
378 00:40:06.220 ⇒ 00:40:06.870 Uttam Kumaran: Okay.
379 00:40:07.720 ⇒ 00:40:24.449 megan: And then, yeah, if you have, like, some of… kind of the stage just, you know, before that, like, we can have another section, and then as they kind of move up the chain, we can just, you know, move them and adjust as needed. I like that better, actually.
380 00:40:28.970 ⇒ 00:40:35.809 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, that would be great, and even our sales team, like, Ryan on our… on our… on the sales site can tell you which ones
381 00:40:36.190 ⇒ 00:40:37.540 Uttam Kumaran: Are there right now.
382 00:40:38.450 ⇒ 00:40:39.290 megan: Okay.
383 00:40:41.290 ⇒ 00:40:52.190 megan: Okay. I can check with him, or Rico, if you’ve got that, and can send it to me, then I can get it added, and then we’ll have, much more of a fully baked plan.
384 00:40:52.710 ⇒ 00:40:55.400 megan: And then I can share that output with you.
385 00:40:57.090 ⇒ 00:40:58.590 Rico Rejoso: Okay, let me click.
386 00:41:01.150 ⇒ 00:41:01.679 megan: I got a bed.
387 00:41:01.680 ⇒ 00:41:09.739 Uttam Kumaran: And then, yeah, I guess I would love to poke around Fathom also, too, if you think that’s, like, we can get access to that.
388 00:41:09.740 ⇒ 00:41:10.370 megan: Yeah.
389 00:41:10.370 ⇒ 00:41:12.140 Uttam Kumaran: I just even, like, just seeing…
390 00:41:13.020 ⇒ 00:41:16.640 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, that just gives me a really clear view of things, so…
391 00:41:19.980 ⇒ 00:41:21.350 megan: That sounds.
392 00:41:21.350 ⇒ 00:41:36.069 Uttam Kumaran: And I’d like to also put that… we have a… we have, like, a bit of an operating deck that we put each month, and I can… maybe I’ll include you on the… on the list, folks, we send it to, and I’d like to include… we do some amount of, sort of, forward forecasting, I’m just gonna take it directly from here.
393 00:41:37.690 ⇒ 00:41:39.480 megan: Okay, yeah.
394 00:41:39.650 ⇒ 00:41:45.279 megan: This one is good, because then you can, like, really get granular on the cache assumptions.
395 00:41:45.780 ⇒ 00:41:49.110 megan: Utam at brainforge.ai.
396 00:41:50.770 ⇒ 00:41:51.530 Uttam Kumaran: Yes.
397 00:41:51.730 ⇒ 00:41:54.619 megan: Invite you now, hold on…
398 00:41:58.850 ⇒ 00:41:59.999 megan: Wait a second…
399 00:42:01.730 ⇒ 00:42:07.300 megan: I’ll actually… let me, let me do it after I get off my next call, but yeah, I’ll.
400 00:42:07.300 ⇒ 00:42:08.200 Uttam Kumaran: Okay, okay, no problem.
401 00:42:08.610 ⇒ 00:42:18.490 megan: And then you can, yeah, just click around, and there’s some reports and stuff that we didn’t even get into, but I like the idea of having it all kind of in…
402 00:42:18.690 ⇒ 00:42:26.589 megan: One spot, and then as the financials get finalized each month, then it just kind of adjusts everything automatically, so…
403 00:42:27.300 ⇒ 00:42:42.599 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, and, you know, I think overall, like, for me, I’d like to see us deprecate, like, the Google Sheet, basically. So we’re gonna move a lot of this stuff to HubSpot, because HubSpot is a source of truth for all of our deals. And then, as soon as certain deals hit a stage.
404 00:42:42.990 ⇒ 00:42:46.019 Uttam Kumaran: the financial forecast can live in Fathom, basically.
405 00:42:46.530 ⇒ 00:42:48.820 megan: Exactly, exactly.
406 00:42:49.360 ⇒ 00:42:58.870 megan: Because, yeah, I know, especially with the sales team, things are moving around so much, like, we don’t… we don’t need to replicate noise, but once.
407 00:42:58.870 ⇒ 00:43:05.590 Uttam Kumaran: Thanks, Rick stage, then it definitely makes sense for, like, resource allocation and planning. Yes.
408 00:43:06.300 ⇒ 00:43:07.080 megan: So, yeah.
409 00:43:09.030 ⇒ 00:43:19.670 Uttam Kumaran: Okay, perfect. Well, this is great, yeah, and I think I’m speaking with ABC Crew, tomorrow about renewal, and so, yeah, if you don’t mind sending that back on that thread.
410 00:43:19.970 ⇒ 00:43:33.679 Uttam Kumaran: And then I feel like, yeah, let’s see if, I mean, we’re… it’s really nice, we’re at our… we’re sort of at our goals, you know, what we thought we would do by the end of the quarter, and there’s still some more business that we’re pitching, so…
411 00:43:34.030 ⇒ 00:43:38.100 Uttam Kumaran: Let’s see. Yeah, it’s good, so I appreciate it.
412 00:43:38.100 ⇒ 00:43:54.859 megan: It’s all going… it’s all going the right way. I know we’ve had, like, some bumpy months, but it seems like, you know, the light’s at the end of the tunnel at this point. So, just gotta follow through and not overspend, and then get out of the crunch, and then we should be smooth sailing, so…
413 00:43:54.860 ⇒ 00:44:08.549 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, so that’s exactly what I’m hoping to do in Fathom, is basically project if these close, and then I kind of want to say, okay, if we can deal with it for 2 months, like, where does that put our cash at? And then gives me a sense of, like.
414 00:44:08.780 ⇒ 00:44:12.159 Uttam Kumaran: How long to endure the pain on some things, so…
415 00:44:13.420 ⇒ 00:44:14.910 megan: Yeah, I hear you.
416 00:44:15.730 ⇒ 00:44:16.550 Uttam Kumaran: Awesome.
417 00:44:17.780 ⇒ 00:44:19.690 megan: Okay, well this was great.
418 00:44:20.340 ⇒ 00:44:21.619 Uttam Kumaran: Thank you so much.
419 00:44:21.910 ⇒ 00:44:24.000 megan: Alright, yeah, I’ll talk to you guys soon.
420 00:44:24.510 ⇒ 00:44:25.809 Uttam Kumaran: Okay, bye.